Last Meal

Comstock, NY N3 28 W75 26
(08/11/05) Today was a delightful day on the canal. The weather was much nicer than in recent weeks – cooler and less humid. Except for a brief stop in Schuylerville to post last night's blog, we continued all day. The river's beauty continued right to the end. The end is at Fort Edward where the canal departs from the Hudson river.

Mid morning we passed the place in Saratoga National Park where there the cannons overlook the river. Four months ago we visited those cannon redoubts with our friends Kenneth and Sonja Randèn and looked down on the river. Two hundred and thirty years ago the British tried to visit the same spot. They never made it, and were defeated in the battle of Saratoga.

The canal is narrower than the river and nearly featureless. We see nothing but trees lining both banks. Once in a while though we get a glimpse of one of those Adirondack Mountains in the distance and that adds spice.

At lock 8 the lockmaster cultivated some fantastic sunflowers. One of them is 13 feet () tall so far. Amazing. Each lock is operated and maintained by a lockmaster. Each lockmaster treats it like his property and gives it loving care. The machinery is more than 100 years old, but likely will last forever with the maintenance it gets. The grounds and buildings are immaculate. Each lock has its own power plant. General Electric (who else) made all the electrical equipment.

There were many pretty places to stop along the way. We chose this place, just north of lock 11. We are only 200 meters from Great Meadows Correctional Facility, (translation, a major jail full of very bad people), yet all we can see is beautiful nature. I trust that the prison is secure so we won't lose sleep worrying about escaped prisoners. I just saw a large bird that I think was a piliated woodpecker.

The lockmaster gave us a menu from a nearby restaurant that delivers to the prison and to the lock. They would bring food right to the boat. I joked that we should order the entrée called "Last Meal" because it should be a very good meal. On the other hand maybe that logic is faulty. The usual “Last Meal” customers don't get to complain if they don't like it.